Big Tony

Tony Mortello was having one of those conversation he hated having — especially over the phone. Who knows who was listening.

"So, you call the cocksucker and tell him, if he don't pay, I'm gonna kill him! You hear me? I'm gonna FUCKING KILL HIM!!"

He whacked the phone on the table like he was hammering a nail.

"Easy, Tony, don't kill the phone — what's the hell's got you all hot?"

"The fucking world, Sammy — that's what. A cocksucker borrows ten grand . . . says he's gonna pay me back Sunday. Well, Sunday come and no money. I call and he don't pick up. Won't take my calls. Skips town. My boy Franky sees him in Vegas with a big roll of dough. Franky says about twenty grand."

"Twenty grand and he won't pay up?"

"Get this . . . the guy wins fifty grand playing craps. Franky, being cool, goes to collect. The guy tells him, he ain't paying me back. Pulls a gun on Franky—shoots him."

"He shot Franky?" Sammy said.

"Yeah. I couldn't believe it."

"You're Franky?—Franky Matanaz?"

"Yeah, my Franky," said Big Tony.

"Jeezus, Tony, what the fuck? Franky alive?"

"Yeah, shot him in the leg."

"Poor Franky. He's a good kid."

"Yeah he is. And that ain't all, Sammy. Now Franky's in the hospital and the cocksucker skips town again with, get this, over eighty grand. EIGHTY FUCKING GRAND! . . . and he won't pay me back. What's the world coming. People used to borrow money, and they'd pay it back . . . now they don't wanna pay. There's a break in the system. The world's going to hell."

"You got that right. People just ain't honest like they used to be. So who's the guy?"

"Jimmy Chu from Brooklyn."

"But Jimmy Chu always pays."

"Yeah, that's what gets me. It's like he's got something personal, but I ain't never done him wrong ... so I don't get it."

"Any word on where he went?" said Sammy.

"Cali . . . Hollywood . . . he went there to meet movies stars."

"Movie Stars?"

"Yeah, gonna have a little vacation and meet movie stars with my money. Gonna have the time of his life. Live like big-shot. He gonna blow right through every last fucking dime."

"I'll call Louis and see if he can find the guy."

"Yeah, tell him Big Tony pays his dues. Big Tony don't forget. Big Tony from the Bronx."

"Big Tony from the Bronx."

Big Tony sat in his chair looking out the window of his office puffing on a Cuban cigar. It was his last one—some expensive contraband his nephew Franky brought back from his trip to Havana, on his honeymoon. He'd snuck them through customs inside a radio. It was something like a ten thousand dollar fine and six months prison if they found it, but Franky didn't care. He knew how much Tony liked Cuban cigars. Franky felt it was nothing to do Big Tony a favor. That's Franky, always looking out for others. A good kid.

Tony never forgets who does him right; he also never forgets who does him wrong. He puffed the cigar thinking of Franky in the hospital, taking a bullet for him because the kid wanted to do the right thing. It made him want to strangle the bug who did it.

Then there was Gina. His sister. Franky's mom. Tony could already hear her barking at him about the biz and how she don't want Franky in the biz. He's a good kid and he's got potential to be a somebody and not a bum like her brother and his friends.